TIP OF THE DAY: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches For Dessert ~ Bananas Foster & Dulce De Leche | THE NIBBLE Blog - Adventures In The World Of Fine FoodTIP OF THE DAY: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches For Dessert ~ Bananas Foster & Dulce De Leche – THE NIBBLE Blog – Adventures In The World Of Fine Food

April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Wisconsin, American’s premier cheese-producing state (California is runner-up), even has a chef-spokesperson for the occasion.

She is MacKenzie Smith of the blog Grilled Cheese Social, where she creates recipe after recipe for innovative grilled cheese sandwiches. She’s also the sandwich expert for About.com.

Mackenzie developed five new grilled cheese sandwiches for National Grilled Cheese Month—made with delicious Wisconsin cheese of course. The first is what we’d call “dessert grilled cheese,” although you can certainly have it as your main for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It takes the idea of Bananas Foster—bananas sautéed in butter with brown sugar, banana liqueur and rum. Mackenzie combines these ingredients with sweet, creamy mascarpone and cream cheese on a sandwich of French toast.

It’s a smash, and our tip of the day is dessert grilled cheese.

RECIPE: BANANAS FOSTER GRILLED CHEESE

Ingredients For 1 Sandwich

1 ounce (about 1/8 cup) mascarpone cheese

1 ounce cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons salted butter, divided

1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon banana liqueur or brandy

1/2 small banana, thickly sliced

2 slices brioche bread

Sea salt flakes

Preparation

1. BEAT the mascarpone and cream cheese in bowl. Set aside.

2. PREPARE the French toast batter: In bowl, beat egg, milk and vanilla and set aside in a shallow bowl wide enough to hold sandwich for dipping.

3. MELT 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until it dissolves. Add the liqueur and bring to a simmer. Once the mixture begins to thicken, add the banana, stirring constantly to evenly coat bananas. Cook 2-3 minutes, until the bananas are well coated in sauce. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

4. PREPARE the sandwich: Spread the mascarpone mixture evenly on one side of each bread slice. Top one mascarpone-covered slice with the banana mixture, a sprinkle of sea salt and the remaining bread slice, mascarpone-covered slice down.

5. SOAK (gently!) each side of sandwich in the French toast batter for a 1 minute. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Place the sandwich in the skillet and grill 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and allow to rest 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

RECIPE: DULCE DE LECHE GRILLED CHEESE

Dulce de leche fans will enjoy this dessert grilled cheese sandwich, made with mascarpone and the addictive Argentinian dessert (made by caramelizing sugar in milk).

1. COMBINE the mascarpone, dulce de leche and vanilla extract in a small bowl.

2. BUTTER one side of each slice of bread. Spread the mascarpone mixture on the non-buttered side of 4 of the bread slices. Spread raspberry preserves on the non-buttered side of the remaining 4 slices of bread.

3. PLACE one slice of bread with raspberries or preserves on each mascarpone-topped bread slice, buttered sides out. Place the sandwiches on an electric griddle heated to 350°F, or in a preheated skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Cook 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until bread is lightly toasted.